Lotus debut second E21 chassis

Kimi Räikkönen conducted the first day of running for Lotus as the team introduced chassis #2 of the E21 car. Though Kimi completed the fewest laps (44) of any driver today, he was nevertheless the second fastest for most of the day, including at the end of the afternoon session.

"Telemetry data-logging issues meant the team completed fewer laps than desired, but nevertheless concluded a productive day of assessment of the second E21."

Lotus focused on systems checks, temperature monitoring, data correlation and assessment of the performance of the car with its initial aerodynamic package.

Kimi Räikkönen: “It wasn’t an ideal day in terms of the number of laps we completed, but the car feels strong and we’ve made some good progress. After Jerez it’s nice to be at a circuit where we race and the E21 is definitely a step in the right direction. There’s lots of work yet to do this week but I’m happy with where we are at the moment.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “It’s been a positive debut for the second chassis here in Barcelona. Kimi was happy with where the car started the day, and the setup changes we’ve made have been positive. We had a few issues on the electronics side with the telemetry data-logging and this has cost us track time as well as the ability to conduct longer runs. Other than that, we’ve been able to take over from where we left off in Jerez so we’re happy with that. All we need is more laps, which is our focus for tomorrow.”

Kimi Raikkonen will continue to drive tomorrow with the team targeting a greater haul of laps.